The present invention relates generally to inserting an expansion card into and extracting a expansion card from a printed circuit board and, in particular, to a tool for simultaneously inserting multiple expansion cards, such as memory modules, into and extracting multiple expansion cards from a printed circuit board.
Mainframe computers are powerful, high-performance computers used for large-scale computing purposes that require substantial availability and security. Mainframe computers are primarily used by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing, statistics, enterprise resource planning, and transaction processing. Historically, mainframe computers have functioned as “enterprise servers” although they were not referred to as enterprise servers or “servers” until the emergence of networked computing, such as the Internet.
Enterprise servers contain programs that collectively serve the needs of an enterprise rather than a single user, department, or specialized application. An enterprise server is both the computer's mainframe hardware and its main software that may include one or more operating systems running on the mainframe. Thus, enterprise servers provide security, fault tolerance, efficiency, and resource allocation to an enterprise.
Emerging enterprise servers, such as the IBM® zEnterprise™ System, may include a central processing complex (CPC), multiple blade computers, and multiple “processor books,” all of which may be managed as a single entity by a resource manager. As can be appreciated the demand for computer memory in an enterprise server can be substantial. For example, an enterprise server may require up to three terabytes (3 TB) of available memory. To meet the memory demands of an enterprise server, the sever may is often configured with multiple processor books, commonly referred to in the art as “books”.
A processor book, hereinafter book, includes a multi-chip module (MCM) that comprises one or more processors, data Input/Output (I/O) paths, and a significant amount of available memory. For example, a book may have up to 750 GB or more of memory available for the server.
Memory in the processor book may comprise a redundant array of independent memory (RAIM). RAIM is an emerging memory technology that similar in concept to known RAID technology for protecting against disk drive failure. In the case of memory, RAIM is capable of supporting several memory device chip-kills and entire memory channel failures. RAIM is more robust than parity checking and ECC memory technologies which cannot protect against many varieties of memory failures. RAIM utilizes several memory modules and striping algorithms to strip data across the memory modules in the array to protect against the failure of any particular module of the array and keeps the memory system operating continuously, thus improving fault tolerance of the enterprise server.
Each book may have between 30 and 32 memory slots mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Memory modules are inserted into available slots on the PCB to connect the memory to the PBC making the memory available for use by the server. Memory modules used in this application typically comprise “dual in-line memory module” or “DIMM” memory modules. DIMM memory modules comprise a series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits and have separate electrical contacts on each side of the module. The DIMM memory slots have latches on each end of the slot to prevent the DIMM from inadvertently detaching from the slot.
After manufacture, processor books and/or DIMMs are tested to ensure they operate properly. During the testing process of the DIMMs are manually inserted into and extracted from the memory slots a number of times. It takes a substantial amount of force, approximately 22 pounds of force, to insert a DIMM into a memory slot. It can be difficult for an operator to evenly exert the force needed to insert a DIMM into a memory slot. It can be substantially more difficult for an operator to repeatedly evenly exert the force needed to insert a DIMM into a memory slot over the course of a work day. Inserting, or attempting to insert, a DIMM into a memory slot with uneven force may cause damage to the DIMM, the memory slot, the memory slot latches, and other damage. For example, inserting a DIMM into a memory slot with more force on one end of the DIMM can damage to the DIMM and/or the latch, which may necessitate replacement of the DIMM with a new DIMM and repair of the latch and/or memory slot.
Over the course of a work day repeatedly exerting the force needed to insert DIMMs into a memory slots can cause operator fatigue and stress to the operator. This can results in ergonomic issues for an operator, such as sore and blistered fingers and thumbs and other potential injuries to the operator's hands.
DIMMs are often inserted into and then extracted from the memory slots up to three times during the during the testing process. Each book is configured with between 30 and 32 memory slots. As can be approached, it can be time consuming for an operator, to manually insert a DIMM into each memory slot and then extract the DIMM from each memory slot of the book, during the testing process.